The
American Academy of Arts and LettersAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters is a 250-member honor
society; its goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in
American literature, music, and art. Located in the Washington Heights
neighborhood of
ManhattanManhattan in New York City, it shares Audubon Terrace,
a complex on Broadway between West 155th and 156th Streets, with the
Hispanic Society of AmericaHispanic Society of America and Boricua College.
The academy's galleries are open to the public on a published
schedule. Exhibits include an annual exhibition of paintings,
sculptures, photographs and works on paper from contemporary artists
nominated by its members, and an annual exhibition of works by newly
elected members and recipients of honors and awards. A permanent
exhibit of the recreated studio of composer
Charles IvesCharles Ives was opened in
2014.[1]
The auditorium is sought out by musicians and engineers wishing to
record live because the acoustics are considered among the city's
finest. Hundreds of commercial recordings have been made there.[2][3]

Contents

1 History

1.1 Early years
1.2 Federally chartered corporation

2 Buildings
3 Membership

3.1 Current academicians

4 Awards

4.1 Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts
4.2 Other awards

5 References
6 External links

History[edit]
Early years[edit]
The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters was formed from
three parent organizations. The first, the American Social Science
Association, was founded in 1865, at Boston. The second was the
National Institute of Arts and Letters, which ASSA's membership
created in 1898. The qualification for membership in the NIAL was
notable achievement in art, music, or literature. The number of NIAL
members was at first limited to 150 (all men). The third organization
was the American Academy of Arts, which NIAL's membership created in
1904, as a preeminent national arts institution, styling itself after
the French Academy.
The AAA's first seven academicians were elected from ballots cast by
the entire NIAL membership. They were William Dean Howells, Samuel L.
Clemens, Edmund Clarence Stedman, and John Hay, representing
literature;
Augustus Saint-GaudensAugustus Saint-Gaudens and John La Farge, representing
art; and Edward MacDowell, representing music.[4] The number of NIAL
members was increased in 1904, by the introduction of a two-tiered
structure: 50 academicians and 200 regular members. Academicians were
gradually elected over the next several years. The elite group
(academicians) were called the "Academy," and the larger group
(regular members) was called the "Institute." This strict two-tiered
system persisted for 72 years (1904–76).
In 1908, poet
Julia Ward HoweJulia Ward Howe was elected to the AAA, becoming the
first female academician.[5]
In 1976, the NIAL and AAA merged, under the name American Academy and
Institute of Arts and Letters. The combined Academy/Institute
structure had a maximum of 250 living United States citizens as
members, plus up to 75 foreign composers, artists, and writers as
honorary members. It also established the annual Witter Bynner Poetry
Prize in 1980 to support the work of young poets. The election of
foreign honorary members persisted until 1993, when it was abandoned.
Federally chartered corporation[edit]
The Academy holds a
Congressional charter under Title 36 of the United
States Code (42 USC 20301 et seq.), which means that it is one of the
comparatively rare "Title 36" corporations in the United States.[6]
The 1916 statute of incorporation established this institution amongst
a small number of other patriotic and national organizations which are
similarly chartered.[7] The federal incorporation was originally
construed primarily as an honor. The special recognition neither
implies nor accords Congress any special control over the Academy,
which remains free to function independently.[8]
Active sponsors of Congressional action were Senator Henry Cabot Lodge
of Massachusetts and former-President Theodore Roosevelt.[9] The
process which led to the creation of this federal charter was
accompanied by controversy;[10] and the first attempt to gain the
charter in 1910 failed.[11] Sen. Lodge re-introduced legislation which
passed the Senate in 1913.[12] The Academy was incorporated under the
laws of the State of New York in 1914,[13] which factors in
decision-making which resulted in Congressional approval in 1916.[14]
Buildings[edit]

The Academy occupies three buildings on the west end of the Audubon
Terrace complex created by Archer M. Huntington, the heir to the
Southern Pacific RailroadSouthern Pacific Railroad fortune and a noted philanthropist. To help
convince the
American Academy of Arts and LettersAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters and the National
Institute of Arts and Letters, which were separate but related
organizations at the time, to move to the complex, Huntington
established building funds and endowments for both.[15]
The first building, on the south side of the complex, along West 155th
Street, was designed by
William M. KendallWilliam M. Kendall of the firm of McKim, Mead
& White; Kendall was himself a member of the Academy. This
Anglo-Italian Renaissance[16] administration building was designed in
1921 and opened in 1923.[15] On the north side, another building
housing an auditorium and gallery was designed by Cass Gilbert, also
an Academy member, and was built from 1928-30.[15][16] These additions
to the complex necessitated considerable alterations to the Audubon
Terrace plaza, which were designed by McKim, Mead & White.[15]
In 2007, the American Numismatic Society, which had occupied a Charles
P. Huntington-designed building immediately to the east of the
Academy's original building, vacated that space to move to smaller
quarters downtown. This building, which incorporates a 1929 addition
designed by H. Brooks Price,[15] has become the Academy's Annex and
houses additional gallery space.[16] In 2009, the space between the
Annex and the administration building was turned into a new entrance
link, designed by Vincent Czajka with Pei Cobb Freed &
Partners.[16]
Membership[edit]
Members of the Academy are chosen for life and have included some of
the leading figures in the American art scene. They are organized into
committees that award annual prizes to help up-and-coming artists.[17]
Although the names of some of the members of this organization may not
be well known today, each of these men were well known in their own
time. Greatness and pettiness are demonstrable among the Academy
members, even during the first decade during which William James
declined his nomination on the grounds that his little brother Henry
had been elected first.[18] One of the giants of the academy in his
time, Robert Underwood Johnson, casts a decades-long shadow in his
one-man war against encroaching modernism, blackballing such writers
as H. L. Mencken, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and
T. S. EliotT. S. Eliot (before his
emigration to England disqualified him for full membership).[19] The
former President of Harvard,
Charles W. EliotCharles W. Eliot declined election to the
Academy "because he was already in so many societies that he didn't
want to add to the number."[20]
Although never explicitly excluded, women were simply not elected to
membership in the early years.[21] The admission of
Julia Ward HoweJulia Ward Howe in
January 1908 (at the age of 88) as the first woman in the Academy was
only one incident in the intense debate about the very consideration
of female members.[22] In 1926, the election of four women – Edith
Wharton, Margaret Deland,
Agnes RepplierAgnes Repplier and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
– was said to have "marked the letting down of the bars to
women."[23]
Below is a partial list of past members of the American Academy of
Arts and Letters and its successor institution, the National Institute
and Academy of Arts and Letters:[24]

Current academicians[edit]
Main articles: List of members of the American Academy of Arts and
Letters Department of Literature, List of members of the American
Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Art, and List of members of
the
American Academy of Arts and LettersAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Music
Awards[edit]
Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts[edit]
The award, a certificate, and $1,000 goes to a United States resident
who has "rendered notable service to the arts".
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular
standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably
sourced entries.

2003 – Leon Botstein[50]
2008 – Judith Jamison[51]

Other awards[edit]
The academy gives out numerous awards, with recipients chosen by
committees made up of Academy members. Candidates for all awards must
be nominated by Academy members, except for the Richard Rodgers
awards, for which an application may be submitted.

Academy Award of the
American Academy of Arts and LettersAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters – In 1941
the Academy established awards to encourage creative work in the arts.
Now $7500 each, Academy Awards are given annually: five to artists,
eight to writers, four to composers, and three to architects.
Marc Blitzstein Award – The $5,000 award is given periodically to a
composer, lyricist, or librettist, "to encourage the creation of works
of merit for musical theater and opera". The award was established in
1965 by the friends of Marc Blitzstein, an Academy member.
Michael Braude Award for Light Verse – The $5,000 biennial award is
given "for light verse written in English regardless of the country of
origin of the writer".
Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize – The annual prize of $5,000 goes
to an architect of any nationality who has "made a contribution to
architecture as an art".
Benjamin H. Danks Award – The $20,000 award is given in rotation to
a composer of ensemble works, a playwright, and a writer (fiction,
non-fiction, poetry). Since 2002 the Academy has administered the
prize established by Roy Lyndon Danks in honor of his father, Benjamin
Hadley Danks.
Jimmy ErnstJimmy Ernst Award – Established by Dallas Ernst in memory of her
husband, the
Jimmy ErnstJimmy Ernst Award of $5,000 is given to a painter or
sculptor "whose lifetime contribution to his or her vision has been
both consistent and dedicated".[52] The award has been presented
annually since 1990.[52]
E. M. Forster Award – E.M. Forster, a foreign honorary member of the
Academy, bequeathed the U.S. royalties of his posthumous novel Maurice
to Christopher Isherwood, who transferred them to the Academy to
establish this $15,000 award. It is given to a young English writer
for an extended visit to the United States.
American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medals – Each year the
Academy awards Gold Medals for distinguished achievement in two
categories in rotation. The Gold Medal is given for the entire work of
the recipient.

Belles Lettres, Criticism, Essays and Painting;
Biography and Music;
Fiction and Sculpture;
History and Architecture, including Landscape Architecture;
Poetry and Music;
Drama and Graphic Art.

Walter Hinrichsen Award – The Walter Hinrichsen Award is given for
the publication of "a work by a mid-career American composer."
William Dean HowellsWilliam Dean Howells Medal – This award is given once every five
years in recognition of the most distinguished American novel
published during that period. It was established in 1925.
The
Charles IvesCharles Ives Prize – Six scholarships of $7500 and two
fellowships of $15,000 are now given annually to young composers. In
1998, the Academy established the
Charles IvesCharles Ives Living, an award of
$75,000 a year for a period of three years given to an American
composer. The award's purpose is to free "a promising talent from the
need to devote his or her time to any employment other than music
composition" during that period.
Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction – The $5,000 prize is given for
the best published first novel or collection of short stories in the
preceding year.
Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond Award – an annual award of $5,000 "given
either to a composition student or an experienced composer".
Goddard Lieberson Fellowships – Two Goddard Lieberson Fellowships of
$15,000 are given annually to young composers of extraordinary gifts.
The CBS Foundation endowed the fellowships in memory of the late
president of CBS Records.
Russell Loines Award for Poetry
American Academy of Arts and LettersAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters Award of Merit – The Award of
Merit, a medal and $10,000, is given each year, in rotation, to an
outstanding person in America representing one of the following arts:
Painting, the Short Story, Sculpture, the Novel, Poetry, and Drama.
Metcalf Awards – In 1986, the Academy received a bequest from
Addison M. Metcalf, son of the late member Willard L. Metcalf, for two
awards to honor young writers and artists of great promise. The
Willard L. Metcalf Award in Art and the Addison M. Metcalf Award in
Literature are biennial awards of $10,000.
Katherine Anne Porter Award – This biennial award of $20,000 goes to
a prose writer who has demonstrated achievements and dedication to the
literary profession.
Arthur Rense Prize – In 1998, the $20,000 award was established to
honor "an exceptional poet" once every third year.
Richard Rodgers Awards for Musical Theater – These awards subsidize
full productions, studio productions, and staged readings of musicals
put on by nonprofit theaters in New York City. The plays are by
composers and writers not already established in this field. These are
the only awards for which the Academy accepts applications.[53]
Rome PrizeRome Prize in Literature – Every year the Academy selects and partly
subsidizes two young writers for a one-year residence at the American
Academy in Rome.
Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Awards – Each of these two
awards are for $5,000. The first, established in 1956, is for a
fiction work of "considerable literary achievement" published in the
previous year. The second, created in 1959, is for a young painter
"who has not yet been accorded due recognition".
Medal for Spoken Language – This medal, awarded from time to time,
recognizes individuals who set a standard of excellence in the use of
spoken language.
The Mildred and Harold Strauss Livings – These Livings provide an
annual stipend of $50,000 a year for five years, awarded to two
writers of English prose literature to enable them to devote their
time exclusively to writing.
Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award – This $10,000 award is given each
year to honor a writer of "recent prose that merits recognition for
the quality of its style".
Morton Dauwen Zabel Award – This $10,000 biennial award is given in
rotation to a poet, writer of fiction, or critic, "of progressive,
original, and experimental tendencies".

References[edit]
Notes

^ "The American Academy Of Arts And Letters Announces The Opening Of
The
Charles IvesCharles Ives Studio". American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Retrieved March 31, 2015.
^ John Updike, ed. A Century of Arts & Letters, Columbia
University Press (1998), p. 263.
^ Barbara S. Christen and Steven Flanders, eds. Cass Gilbert, Life and
Work: Architect of the Public Domain, W. W. Norton and Company (2001),
p. 12.
^ "Aims of National Academy; Organization Formed to Promote Art,
Music, and Literature", New York Times. January 23, 1909.
^ First woman elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters, Jan.
28, 1908.
^ Moe, Ronald C. "Congressionally Chartered Nonprofit Organizations
("Title 36 Corporations"): What They Are and How Congress Treats
Them," Archived October 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
Congressional Research Service, CRS Report to Congress. Order Code
RL30340 (April 8, 2004).
^ "What is a congressional charter?", Knight Ridder Newspapers,
December 12, 2007.
^ Kosar, Kevin R. "Congressional or Federal Charters: Overview and
Current Issues." Archived June 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
Congressional Research Service, CRS Report to Congress. Order Code
RS22230 (January 23, 2007).
^ "Slur on the 'Immortals'; Lodge's Proposed Institutions Shorn of
Glory", New York Times. January 19, 1909.
^ "Official Action Just Taken Contemplates American Federation.; The
Movement to Advance Arts and Letters in America", New York Times.
January 24, 1909.
^ "A Charterless Academy", New York Times. February 28, 1910.
^ "Two New Art Societies; Senator Lodge Introduces Bills Providing for
Their Incorporation", New York Times. January 19, 1913.
^ "Arts Academy Chartered; Membership Never to Exceed 50 – William
Dean Howells President", New York Times. June 11, 1914.
^ Walnerth, Charles et al. "Greetings to the American Academy of Arts
and Letters", New York Times. August 25, 1916.
^ a b c d e f
New York CityNew York City Landmarks Preservation Commission "Audubon
Terrace Historic District Designation Report" (January 9, 1979).
^ a b c d White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot & Leadon, Fran (2010),
AIA Guide to
New York CityNew York City (5th ed.), New York: Oxford University
Press, ISBN 9780195383867 , pp.558–561.
^ "Rival to the Great French Academy Limited to 50 Members, Receives
Official Recognition From the U.S. Senate; Something About Those on
the Original List", New York Times. January 26, 1913.
^ "Editorial Review" of Updike's A Century of Arts and Letters:
"Editorial Reviews": Amazon.com.
^ "Editorial Review" of John Updike's A Century of Arts and Letters:
Alan Weakland, writing in Booklist.
^ "Eliot not in Academy; Harvard's President Emeritus Said He Was in
Too Many Societies", New York Times. January 21, 1913.
^ "Immortals' Plan Hall of Fame Here; Women Would Be Eligible- But
"Better Form a Hall of Their Own", New York Times. November 16, 1913.
^ Google Books summary: John Updike's A Century of Arts and Letters.
^ a b "First Women Elected to Institute of Arts;
Edith WhartonEdith Wharton Among
the Four Chosen – American Academy Makes Two Men Members", New York
Times. November 12, 1926.
^ The history of the National Institute of Arts & Letters and the
American Academy of Arts & Letters as Told, Decade by Decade, by
Eleven Members: Louis Auchincloss, Jack Beeson, Hortense Calisher, Ada
Louise Huxtable, Wolf Kahn, R. W. B. Lewis, Richard Lippold, Norman
Mailer, Cynthia Ozick, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.- John Updike, Editor,
Columbia University Press, New York, 1998.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Academicians Meet
Here This Week; Members of Institute Will Join Them in Sessions at the
Ritz-Carlton. France to send Greeting; Concert Wherein All Works Are
by American Composers Will Be Heard", New York Times. November 12,
1916.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "Two New Members for the
Academy; Dr.
Barrett Wendell and Garl Melchers, the Painter, Honored
at Meeting", New York Times. November 16, 1916.
^ American Academy of Arts and Letters: Deceased Members Archived July
26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine., accessed January 5, 2010.
^ "W. R. Thayer Wins Medal; J.G. Huneker and Others Elected to Arts
and Letters Institute.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Academy Honors John Burroughs; Naturalist
Praised by
Bliss PerryBliss Perry and
Hamlin GarlandHamlin Garland at Memorial Meeting", New
York Times, November 19, 1921.
^ "
Hortense Calisher Jewish Women's Archive". Jwa.org. Retrieved
November 16, 2016.
^ Associated, The (December 10, 1987). "Arts Academy Elects Dickey and
Styron". NYTimes.com. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^ "
Bob DylanBob Dylan not coming to Stockholm to accept Nobel Prize for
literature". cleveland.com. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^ The Los Angeles Times, May 30, 1943, p. 49.
^ "William Gaddis". Albany.edu. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
^ "Elected to Academy;
Brand WhitlockBrand Whitlock and
Hamlin GarlandHamlin Garland in Arts and
Letters", New York Times. January 12, 1918.
^ "Dr. Griffis, Friend of Japan, Dies; Educator Who Helped Japanese
Adapt Themselves to Western Civilization", New York Times. February 6,
1928.
^ "Hitchcock, Ripley", in Stanley Wertheim, A Stephen Crane
Encyclopedia, Greenwood Press, 1997, p. 155.
^ "Huntington Gives Site for Academy; Men of Arts and Letters to Erect
Building Near Riverside Drive and 155th St. Next to Hispanic Museum;
National Institute and American Academy Accept Offer of Eight City
Lots for Site", New York Times. January 25, 1915.
^ Pg. 19
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 26, 2011.
Retrieved 2011-07-30.
^ Caemmerer, H. Paul. "Charles Moore and the Plan of Washington."
Records of the Columbia Historical Society. Vol. 46/47 (1944/1945):
237–258, 254.
^ Joseph Pennell, Noted Artist, Dead; Won High Honors as Etcher and
Illustrator – Later Taught Art and Wrote Books", New York Times.
April 24, 1926.
^ "Academy Elects Gay and Lippman; Artist and Journalist Named to
Vacancies Left by Deaths of Platt and Shorey", New York Times.
November 9, 1934.
^ Schoenberg, Arnold (1987). Stern, Erwin, ed. Arnold Schoenberg
Letters. University of California Press. p. 244.
ISBN 9780520060098.
^ "Would Encourage Study of Classics; Academy of Arts and Letters
Suggests Courses for Schools and Colleges; Sees Aid to Civilization;
Resolution Says Opposite Policy Would Lower the Culture of the
American People", New York Times. December 16, 1918.
^ "Streep would like to thank the (arts) academy" "DesMoines
Register." April 12, 2010.
^ "Mr.
Lorado TaftLorado Taft Dies; Leading Sculptor; Creator of Some of
Country's Outstanding Monuments is Stricken at 76; Was Teacher in
Chicago; Fountain of Time and Columbus Memorial in Washington Among
Chief Works", New York Times. October 31, 1936.
^ "
American Academy of Arts and LettersAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters - Deceased Members".
Artsandletters.org. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011.
Retrieved August 13, 2012.
^ "
American Academy of Arts and LettersAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters - Deceased Members".
Artsandletters.org. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011.
Retrieved August 13, 2012.
^ van Gelder, Lawrence. "Arts Briefing: American Academy Honors", New
York Times. May 19, 2003.
^ van Gelder, Lawrence. "Arts, Briefly: American Academy Picks Caro
and Trillin", New York Times. April 17, 2008.
^ a b "
Jimmy ErnstJimmy Ernst Award". American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. Retrieved October 7,
2010.
^ Hetrick, Adam."Richard Rodgers Awards Honor Cheer Wars and Rosa
Parks Musicals", playbill.com, March 12, 2009.

Asian American Arts Centre
Drawing Center
Eldridge Street Synagogue
FusionArts Museum
International Center of Photography
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Merchant's House Museum
Museum of Chinese in America
New Museum
New York CityNew York City Fire Museum
The Theatre Museum
Ukrainian Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art

Chelsea, Flatiron, Gramercy
(14th-34th Sts)

Center for Jewish History
International Print Center New York
John J. Harvey
The Museum at FIT
Museum of Mathematics
Museum of Sex
Rubin Museum of Art
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt Birthplace
Tibet House

Midtown
(34th-59th Sts)

Girl Scout Museum and Archives
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
Japan Society
John M. Mossman Lock Museum
Madame Tussauds
Morgan Library & Museum
Museum of Arts and Design
Museum of Modern Art
New York Public Library Main Branch
New York Transit Museum
Paley Center for Media
Scandinavia House
United Nations Art Collection

American Academy of Arts and Letters
The Cloisters
Dyckman House
Hamilton Grange National Memorial
Hispanic Society of America
Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center
Morris–Jumel Mansion
National Jazz Museum in Harlem
National Track and Field Hall of Fame
Neue Galerie New York
Yeshiva University Museum
Studio Museum in Harlem